Im in the middle of the ocean...

Hola! We are en route to Salvador, Brazil, and according to the map channel we are in the middle of the ocean at a speed of 19 knots. Earlier today I was sitting on my bed reading for one of my classes, and I looked out my window to see that we were 3 miles off the coast of Barbados. From what I could see it is an absolutely beautiful island. We also sailed past Martinique and St. Lucia earlier this morning. Tonight is our first Pub Night on the ship so the 7th deck is busy with people all dressed up and drinking. I decided that there are plenty of opportunities to party, and I don’t feel like wasting my money, so that is why I am sitting on my computer writing this instead! J.
Puerto Rico was amazing. I got to speak Spanish and amazing. I got to speak Spanish, and it was just a great place to start our journey. I don’t think I have ever been so excited in my life to wake up and see that my cell phone had service. Not only that, but I had 3 texts! Haha. On our first day in Puerto Rico Kim, Meredith, and I disembarked around 11am and walked to Old San Juan. We did some shopping and walking around the city for a while. It was so hot, so we went into this little restaurant and got frozen drinks. We met up with Jordi and Dannie and walked around some more. After we got back to the ship we got ready for the Welcome Reception, which took place at a few local universities. We all went to the Universidad de Puerto Rico and met some students there. Everyone had a pretty good time, but I was a little homesick so I snuck away to talk on my cell phone- I know it is bad. After the Welcome Reception everyone wanted to go out but I was feeling “land sick” so I decided to stay in and get some sleep. The next day Jordi, Ashley, and I took the city bus (which was interesting) to Kmart to stock up on some stuff, and then just took a taxi back. I got back to the ship in time to meet up with a group of students who were kayaking on the Bioluminescent Bay indy, so I hopped on that trip. We rode in a squished van for about an hour and a half to the bay and then paired up and got a little lesson on kayaking. Max and I were partners, and I must admit I am an excellent kayaker. So it is pitch dark out and we are kayaking in a single file line through mangroves (crashing into them) for about a mile. Then we get to this huge open lagoon surrounded by mountains. The leaders tied all of our kayaks together and gave us a little science lesson about bioluminescence and the dynoflagellates that cause it. Then it was time to go swimming! It is extremely hard to describe swimming in this bay. I describe it as something I have only seen in the movie Fern Gully with the different colors that come about when they touch the trees. My roommate Ashley described it as looking like fairy dust. Basically, when you move in the water it lights up a gold color, it is really amazing. So we were allowed to swim around for a while, and then we kayaked the mile back to the shore, and took our bus ride back. Later that night Dannie, Jordi, Kevin, Andrea, and I went to Old San Juan and found a little place to eat, drink, and dance. I didn’t want to party too much because I had to meet up with the SAS group at 8am the next morning for the Rio Camuy Caves.
The caves were crazy! First of all it was a 2-hour BUMPY bus ride to get there- no fun. But I fell asleep for a little bit, so that was good. Apparently everyone on the island decided to go to the caves that day because we waited for at least 3 hours before we even arrived at the opening of the cave. I walked around the caves with Eric and Tim, and took A LOT of pictures. I know I keep saying I will post pictures, and I haven’t been doing that, but I will. So anyway the caves are extraordinary. They were so beautiful; it was hard to make myself believe that it was a natural place. So we walked around the caves for a while, but not as long as had anticipated, and then had a picnic lunch before getting back on the bus for the 2-hour ride back. I slept the entire way back it was great. We got back to the ship at about 530pm and on-ship time was 900pm so Eric and I decided to look for an Internet café. We were told that McDonalds had free Internet so we walked there, but we couldn’t get on, so we went back to the ship, met up with Jaime and Terron, and took a cab to Starbucks. I didn’t have much battery on my computer so I just checked my email, Facebook, and my blog comments quickly. Thank you for reading and commenting by the way everyone!! So after that we went to this cute restaurant and ate dinner. We got back to the ship around 820 and I was freaking out because I thought there would be a long line and we would end up getting dock time, but there was no one in line and it was fine. It was really sad to leave Puerto Rico for many reasons. For me at least there was a slight comfort about being in Puerto Rico as opposed to other places on our itinerary. I speak Spanish- I won’t be able to speak the language anywhere else. My cell phone worked- I’m going to have a hard time communicating with home for now on. Also there was just something about it being a US Territory that made me feel good. So I was just sitting on the 7th deck talking on my cell phone, when apparently we left the dock early. I started freaking out because I hadn’t called my family to say goodbye or anything. So I quickly called up whomever I could before my service cut out. I was really upset to be leaving, and I was not expecting that at all. But now we are at sea for 7 days on our way to Brazil (yes, with class everyday :p). Ship life is very interesting. I don’t know if it is because of the situation we are all in, but everyone has gotten so close so fast. We have only been here for a week, but I feel like I have known these people for a lot longer, and I have been hearing the same thing from other people. Okay, I actually stopped here last night and now I am trying to continue where I was. Last night was the roughest we have had at sea, and it is not much better now. Until now when we looked out into the ocean it was relatively calm, but it is so wavy now and the ship is rocking like crazy. We had the activities fair the other night where we could learn about and sign up for different clubs. I signed up for Ambassadors Club, Students of Service, Extended Family, and Diversity Committee. The diversity committee should be really interesting considering the lack of diversity on the ship. During orientation the dean spoke about diversity on the ship (at least one person from each state, 65% female 35% male, 1 person from Switzerland, 1 from Puerto Rico, and a handful from Canada), but I don’t think I would consider that diverse. Oh well I guess it just makes me more excited about meeting people in the countries we are visiting. People have been asking me about the food on the boat—its good, but it is the same thing everyday. There is always salad, fish, chicken/beef, potatoes, pasta, and veggies. There is also always PB & J and bread. We had our first Taco Day for lunch on Saturday- it was excellent haha. The one thing that really bothers me about the dining halls is the hours. I don’t start class until 9:20 everyday, but breakfast is over at 8:30, and I mean 8:30 on the dot. They take everything away, and don’t care if you just got there. It’s really annoying, but I get up anyway J. I did get my letters from Bay Hey and Mom and Dad in Puerto Rico and I must admit I was so excited; I have them magnetized to my wall. My roommate got like 4 letters L lol but its ok. I can’t wait to get Brazil and go on my Lencois trip- it is going to be great! Hopefully I will be able to post on here from an Internet café on my last day in Brazil or something. I miss everyone a lot, please send me emails about what is going on in your lives. Love you!!